A search through a vast battlefield, through endless corpses, would have perhaps taken weeks, and maybe even longer with just a single person, but with Nate's vampire senses, he could hear any heartbeat among them; in other words, there wasn't the need for him to check each one individually.
Still, the stench of the blood was even getting to his nose now that he was no longer fighting. He had to make sure to hold himself back.
Originally, he had planned to make it so the survivors would help him on his search to make it easier for him to search. After all, there were bound to be a few who would be close to death or need emergency medical care.
He had already sent one of the survivors, who was in good condition, to head back to the ship, to grab some medical supplies, and return as soon as possible, but the rest of the survivors he had found were unwilling to leave his side.
They were still scared since the fight was ongoing and wanted to stay by Nate's side. He was one of the few people who survived the fight and they knew he was strong enough to take these monsters on.
Eventually, Nate managed to rescue a group of around fifteen almost unscathed people. Some of them had even been pretending to have been injured or hurt, hiding amongst the dead.
"You bastard! How could you, my friend, sacrificed himself while you, you-!" One of the men shouted and grabbed the other by the scruff of his uniform.
"Stop!" Nate shouted. "Of all times, now is definitely not the time to fight amongst ourselves."
Continuing their search, they even found a few who had a few limbs missing. Still, they did their best to do what they could and even cleared an area for the injured outside of the large crater, placing them gently on the ground and waiting for help to arrive.
Using the strength of the beast shield, Nate still had great strength along with his vampire powers to move things quickly, and once in a while, he would consume the blood of the Dalki to re energise himself.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtRight now, the group of people had just placed their tenth injured but alive, soldiers down in a cleared area.
"Commander Nate." The first young man Nate had found, named Jerry, spoke. "Do you think we can really win this war…for me, right now, it seems somewhat impossible. We aren't even on their main planet or base, and there were only a hundred of them.
"I might look young...but I was also there during the first war, and I believe you were too young to take part. This fight, as to how we were so easily overpowered and could do nothing but watch helplessly as our abilities turned out ineffective against our enemy, felt a lot like the old war."
Nate understood what must have been going through his mind because he also had the same thoughts.
"I think the same way," Nate replied honestly. "However, there are times when I see people that make me think the opposite. Look at that." Nate turned back to the fighting field.
They were on the rim of the giant crater, and down below, they could see that the fight was still going on. It was Erin, who hadn't given up, and just blocked an attack with her long blade, stabbing it into the ground.
She soon pulled out her small blood blade and her chains as she continued to go through movements, pulling Dalki and smashing them into each other while slicing them with faster speed. She took out one quickly and hurried back to her large sword in the ground.
She kicked the sword handle so hard that it broke out of the ground and flipped into the air. Then grabbing it midway with both hands, she swung it with flames cutting it in half.
It was like watching a fiercely skilful and mighty warrior take out the Dalki one by one. It wasn't like Quinn who would overpower them... this fight gave a different feeling. And to the eyes of the humans and the others, what Erin was doing right now seemed achievable.
While watching the fight, they suddenly saw a large shadow being cast over the large crater. That was because Genbu had just grown in size, but the shadow quickly went away as he started to shrink.
A few minutes after watching everything, the group realised something as they looked below.
"The fighting has stopped…there are no more Dalki! We've won…we Won!" Jerry was the first to react, and soon the rest of the survivors screamed on top of their lungs and fell to their knees. It was a relief, as they felt something beyond the joy as they realised that they had managed to survive this war.
——
Back on the ground, Genbu was still out in his human-sized form, and Owen was lying there flat on the ground, not moving for a second.
"Ha…you are weak…but you are strong enough for me. Don't worry; you are not dead. If you were, then I still wouldn't be here." Genbu muttered.
With no danger around, Genbu started to disappear, and the purple bolt tattoo appeared back on Owen's hand.
Noticing that the battle had concluded, the group began to run down the crater to check on Owen and the others.
Nicu moved swiftly. Most of the vampires in the group were now dead, leaving only him with three others who were equally as hurt and bleeding with him.
"I can't believe those damn lizards were so strong, but it didn't help that everyone else died so quickly," Nicu said, still huffing and panting.
What he was even more amazed at, though, was Erin. She had come in such a short time and had taken out the majority of the twenty-five or so Dalki who were left, killing nearly twelve of them. Not only that, she had done it all on her own as well.
"Sir, do you wish for us to gather the vampires and make a report back to the settlement?" One of the vampires asked while kneeling on a knee, still in pain.
"We should perhaps gather our fallen. They have fought side by side with us. Then we will send them to the settlement for a proper burial, but this is not a loss." Nicu said as he looked around and noticed Owen was on the floor, having defeated the new Gen Dalki.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"This is a win for us…no, it is a win for the vampire and human race!" Nicu exclaimed with a smile.
Nicu had been stubborn. He had a distaste for humans, but where had that come from? It was mostly from his father's teachings and feelings that had somewhat passed onto him, but was that how he truly felt?
From the small interactions with them all, he felt that the humans weren't bad. Seeing Owen defeat an enemy that he could not, Nicu had nothing but respect for the former.
"Perhaps someday…the vampires and humans can work together."
Turning his head around away from Owen, he soon saw a flash of red blood appear in front of his eyes. It was sudden, and Nicu had no clue what was going on, but when the blood fell, he saw that all three of his men were dead and a sword covered in blood.
It was the girl from earlier, and her eyes were fierce yellow as she walked over towards him.
"A Dhampir!" Nicu shouted as he opened his mouth and bared his fangs towards the woman. He tried to get his sword but could barely move his hand, and before he could do anything, he suddenly lost his vision as his head bounced on the ground.
Nate and the others, who were a little away but close enough to witness everything, stood frozen in shock.
"ERIN!!! WHAT THE F*CK ARE YOU DOING!" Nate shouted at the top of his lungs and lifted his shield, ready to protect all those around him.
She then turned around and smiled at them all with a tear running down her face.
"I'm sorry, this is just who I am…. I have to go."
*******